Countdown

27 November, 2015

Well, another trip in the
books, lets take a look and see how it went.

This year's cast of
characters included my wife and daughter (19mo), my parents, my
sister-in-law and her daughter (4). Helen and Molly had joined us for
a previous trip (read about it here), but this was the first trip to
Disney for my parents since we made 2 day trips to Magic Kingdom and
the then EPCOT Center in 1985. The other 2 parks weren't around back
then.

We were scheduled for a
week at Kindani village. We had hoped for a spot at the Boardwalk,
but there were no 2 bedroom suites available the week we were looking
for.

Since we are DVC, staying
on points, we have always paid for our trips in pieces. You know,
plane tickets.. dining plan.. park tickets.. etc.. This year, the
park tickets were the last big piece we paid for. That made it
difficult to get fast passes for the some of the more popular
attractions. We were unable to get fast passes for the new 7 Dwarfs
Mine Train, or for Toy Story. There were several meet and greets that
were full as well.

The best priced flights
were out of BUF, so we drove the hour down the thruway (I-90). We had
an early (ish) morning flight, so we booked a night at the Marriott
across the street and made arrangements to park our cars there for
the week. Once we were checked in, we headed over to Charlie the
Butchers for some great beef on weck.

In the morning we took
the hotel shuttle to the airport and boarded the plane. It was the
first time that Evelyn had been on a plane, and despite having being
up at 5am, she was awake and active for the entire 2 hour flight,
right up until the instant we touched down in Orlando, when she went
out like a light. We arrived at MCO shortly before noon on Saturday
the 14th, and we headed down to the first floor of the
airport where the Disney Magic Express buses whisk you away to your
resort. When we stepped off the elevator, we were a bit surprised to
see how busy it was. One of the reasons we had picked this week was
that traditionally, it was a relatively light crowd week at Disney.

But despite being fuller
than I have ever seen it, our line moved fairly well, and in about 20
minutes, we were on a bus and on our way to the hotel. When we got
there, we checked in and got our room assignment. I had gotten the
texts that let us know the room was ready, but that we would need to
check in at the front desk to get our room assignment. We head to the
elevators and make the trek to the room. We had requested a room on
the Sunset Savannah, near the lobby. We got one of those. Although,
by the way the crow flies, it wasn't that far from the lobby, but you
can't walk across the savannah to get there. The hotel is built like
a large looping 'w', with the lobby being the center point. We called
down to see if there was a different room closer to the lobby, but
the hotel was booked solid. There would be an opening the next night,
so we agreed to move the next day and we headed over to Hollywood
Studios. With all the recent closings there and the group not being
big on thrill rides, there isn't a lot to draw us there, but we did
want to catch the Osborne lights. We hadn't been there for Christmas,
and this was going to be the last year of them. My dad also wanted to
see the Lights Motors Action show.

This was our first visit
to Hollywood Studios since the Hat came down. I didn't have the
hatred towards the hat that may people did, but that is probably
because I had only been there when it was there. I can't say I liked
it, but I can't say I didn't either. It just sort of was. I did like
the background it made for photos as you enter the park, but the
Chinese Theater does a nice job on its own. We didn't have a meal
planned for the first day, so we hit up the Back Lot Express for
dinner.

The Osborne lights were
amazing. They completely covered the Streets of America in Christmas
lights. The lights danced with the music and it even was snowing. It
was quite crowded, but not so bad that you couldn't move through the
crowd as you needed. It is too bad that they are going away after
this year, but I am looking forward to what they will be doing with
the new Star Wars world that will be going in its place. I'm sure
they will be doing a light display somewhere else on property.
Probably not to the scale of Osborne, but I'm sure there will be
something. We had fast passes for Fantasmic! but it had been a long
day, so we decided to forgo it and went back to the resort.

Sunday morning, we packed
up our stuff, and left it together near the door for bell services to
pick up and take to our new room. We had reservations for the new
breakfast at the Garden Grill at Epcot, so we hopped the bus and
headed to the park. This was one of the places we wanted for dinner,
but were unable to secure reservations. When they announced a couple
of months ago that they were adding breakfast, I jumped on it, and
was able to secure a reservation. One of the criteria I was trying to
keep to when picking where would eat was to try to stick with the all
you can eat places, since we were traveling with an infant (by Disney
standards, anyone under 3 is an infant), and would be able to eat off
our plates at no extra charge. The fact that Farmer Mickey, Pluto,
Chip and Dale were there were a bonus. The food was great, and we ate
ourselves silly on cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, tater
tots, Mickey waffles, biscuits and gravy and fruit, all washed down
with that famous POG juice.

By mid afternoon, our new
room had been secured, but our luggage had been misplaced. My wife
and her sister took the kids to the community room to relax while my
parents and I stayed at Epcot. Before long, our luggage had been
located and delivered to our new room, much closer to the lobby. In
fact, we were moved to the closest room to the lobby. It made for
much shorter walks to the gift shop for refills for our mugs.

It was the last day of
the Food and Wine festival. I had been to Epoct during the festival,
but never really experienced it. I was looking forward to trying some
of the offerings from the kiosks set up from around the world. A new
option on the dining plan this year allows you to get 3 'snacks'
for 1 quick service meal credit. I was looking forward to using this
option for dinner. I ended up getting my dinner from the Brazil
kiosk. I had Brazil's take on shepherds pie, pork belly and a drink.
Both were very good, but the servings were very small. My dad chose
to eat at Belgium. He got a dinner waffle, a desert waffle and a
drink. My mom went a couple kiosks down and went into the Tangarine
Cafe, and got a regular quick service meal. When she came back to the
table that we had secured to watch Illuminations from, we were
shocked how much more food she had than we did.

Monday morning saw us at
Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom. In our planning, I was unable to secure
a fast pass for the new 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. It was under
construction the last 2 times we were there, and I was looking
forward to riding it. I figured that this would be our best chance to
ride it without an hour + wait. We made a mad dash to the ride as
soon as they let us in. When we got there, the line already wrapped
almost completely around the ride. There was a cast member there
holding a sign indicating the beginning (or end?) of the line. He
assured us that the ride had just started, and despite looking long,
it would move right along now that the trains were running. Sure
enough, it moved right along and before long, we were climbing into
the cars. The theming was fantastic. The animatronics inside the mine
were great. It isn't a supper intense roller-coaster, but with the
technology they have put into it, it is worth riding at least once.
Of course we also hit the traditional must-do's. The trinity of Magic
Kingdom rides, Jungle Cruise (or Jingle Cruise, as it is this time of
year), Haunted Mansion and Pirates. No trip to Magic Kingdom is
complete without a ride on these. After the several month long
renovation of Pirates, I was looking forward to riding the newly
refurbished ride. We were in the front row, which has gained the
reputation of getting you wet on the initial plunge near the start of
the ride. I'll just say that I have never gotten wetter on all my
rides on Splash Mountain. I was disappointed that the fog waterfall
wasn't working, but it was working on later rides. The Jingle Cruise
was fun, but I found myself missing the traditional jokes that were
replaced in favor of the Christmas jokes.

Lunch that day was at the
Columbia Harbor House. It was another place I had not eaten at, but
had heard good things about. I chose the salmon dish. It came with
steamed broccoli and couscous. Being a quick service, I wasn't sure
what to expect. When I was in line, I was planning on ordering
something different, but someone ahead of me ordered it, and it
looked good, so I changed my mind, and was glad I did. It was very
good, and at a menu price of $12.50, it was a very good use of a
quick service credit.

One thing we had been
looking forward to was Evy's first haircut. She is just about 19
months, and we have been holding out for the first haircut package at
the barber shop on Main Street USA. We weren't sure how it would go.
Some new things she is good with, others, not so much. She had slept
most of the morning as we pushed her in the rented stroller. When it
was time to check in at the barber shop, we got her up and started to
wake her up. I was surprised how small the barber shop is, just 3
chairs, and a very little waiting space. All 3 chairs were in use
when we checked in, but after a few minutes, she was in the chair.
The stylist did a great job. She started by putting Mickey stickers
all over Evy's arms and legs and handed her a toy to keep her
occupied. When she was done, she put a 'First Haircut' Mickey ears on
her head and gave us a small satchel with the hair clippings.

Dinner that night found
us at The Wave in the Contemporary, so a brief monorail ride over and
we were checking in. It was another first time for us. I don't think
that it will be on our list to return. It was nice, and the food was
good, but it was loud, and the service wasn't great. Maybe I was just
over tired, but I didn't fall in love with this place. After we ate,
we went upstairs to a balcony that overlooked the Magic Kingdom to
watch Wishes, the nightly fireworks display. We had plans on going up
to the Top of the World Lounge, the lounge exclusively for DVC
members, but by the time we finished eating, we didn't have time to
go over there.

Tuesday night, Hollywood
Studios was hosting an employee party, so it was scheduled to close
early. I figured it would be a good day to go back and hit the things
we missed Saturday, since it was a short day. It was. We lined up at
rope-drop for Toy Story, another ride we couldn't get fast passes
for. We hit a few things that we missed Saturday and re-did a couple
that we wanted to do again. After an afternoon break, we returned to
the park to catch the boat to the Yacht Club resort for dinner at The
Captain's Grille. This was hands down, the best meal of the trip.
Everyone loved their meals. I went with the chef's pasta creation. It
was egg noodles cooked in veal stock, tossed with braised short ribs
and topped with Parmesan and fresh arugula. Highly delicious, highly
recommended. After dinner we walked to Epcot, and caught a bus back
to the resort.

The only park we had yet
to visit was up for Wednesday morning. Magic hours had us arriving at
The Animal Kingdom shortly before 8am. We made our way to the Safari
for an early morning ride. I was a little disappointed with the
animal participation that morning. For lunch we tried the new Harambe
Market. I really enjoyed the beef gyro. The milk tart desert as
different, and tasty. Our dinner that night was going to be late, so
my wife and her sister took the girls to Epcot for dinner, while my
parents and I looked forward to the seafood buffet at Cape May at the
Beach Club resort. If you are a seafood lover (more specifically a
shellfish lover), this is the place for you.

Since they announced
breakfast at Be Our Guest, I was intrigued. I had eaten there for
lunch, and was interested in trying their breakfast option. I was
unable to get a reservation for all 7 of us, but was able to get one
for 4. Kathy and Helen took Molly for some meet and greets, while my
parents and I took Evy to dine with the beast. I had been planning
on ordering the open faced sandwich. When it arrived, it was served
with scrambled eggs. I was almost half way through before I
remembered it was supposed to be poached. I flagged down a waitress
to let her know, she offered to replace it, but by that point, I
didn't think it was worth it, and it was a half hearted offer. I have
no doubt they would have, but I just didn't want to deal with it. My
mom ordered the Croque Madame, it arrived luke warm, and she was
dissatisfied. Overall, it wasn't a great experience. I wouldn't call
it a bad one, but by Disney standards, it was pretty low.

We did the usual things
you do at the Magic Kingdom, including the new Festival of Fantasy.
I'm not usually much for parades, but this one is pretty cool. The
floats are very well done, and the dragon is pretty cool. We had
another relatively late dinner, so Kathy and Helen set a earlier
dinner at The Plaza while we waited for a visit to the Trails End at
the Fort Wilderness resort. It was a Christmas party night, so the
park was closing at 7, our diner was at 7.30p. On our way out of the
park, we caught the show of freezing the castle. It was pretty cool
seeing it. It is amazing how they can project pictures onto the
castle and have them be animated and recognizable. It's not like it
is a smooth, flat surface. The lights they have hung on the castle
really make it look like it is ice. We took the boat to the resort
and made our way to the Trails End. I really enjoyed it. It had all
the comfort food you could want, including a baked potato bar,
complete with cheese, bacon, butter etc. The only thing I would do to
improve it would be to make it a bit bigger. The buffet area was a
bit cramped, and it was tough to jump in and get what you want. It
was like you had to go through the line each time. After we ate, a
quick boat ride back to the Kingdom, and a bus ride back to our hotel
for the night.

Friday was extra magic
hours again early at Animal Kingdom. I was pretty tired after the
past week walking 7-10 miles a day, so I decided to take a break, and
not hit the park so early. Kathy and Helen took Molly early, and my
parents, Evy and I took our time getting ready and getting to the
park. We met up at Dinoland. After a ride on the Triceratops spinner,
the line was forming to meet Santa Goofy, so we got in line. I moved
a fast pass for the Kali River ride that we had missed by getting to
the park late and hit a couple other things we had either missed on
Wednesday, or wanted to do again. Dinner that night was at Tusker
House. It featured Safari Donald Duck and his friends, Goofy, Daisy
and Mickey, all also dressed for a safari. This buffet had plenty of
space, but there was less on it that I was interested in. The meat at
the carving stations was over cooked. The characters were great, and
Evy loved meeting each of them. The park closed at 6, and our
reservation was for 6, so as most of the people were heading for the
exits, we were sitting down for dinner. This gave us the opportunity
to see the Tree of Life all lit up, with few people around. It is
quite the sight.

On our past trips, our
flight home was early enough that there really isn't much time do do
anything besides pack up and burn any unused snack credits before we
head to the airport, but this time, our flight wasn't until 8.30, so
we had all day. We had breakfast at Boma, so we took a quick walk to
the Jambo house. We had eaten there for dinner on a previous trip,
but breakfast would be a new experience for us. It has some African
themed dishes as well as more traditional American type breakfast
options. It also had the famous POG juice. I really enjoyed it, and
would keep it on the 'would return' side of the ledger. After
breakfast, we returned to our room to pack up everything and we
dropped our bags off at bell services. We checked in for our flights
and had our boarding passes printed. We still had several hours to
use, so we headed to Magic Kingdom to wrap our trip. It was a nice
way to end our stay. We had already done all the must do's on
our list, so everything we did was gravy. It was now the first day of
Thanksgiving week, and a weekend, so the crowds were higher than we
had seen earlier in the week, but we weren't pressing. We had some
fast passes, but we had a pretty relaxed last day at the park. After
the afternoon parade, we headed for the bus back to the resort for
the last time. We collected our things from bell services, used the
last of our snack credits and headed for the Magic Express.

When we got to the
airport, and through security, we headed for our gate. Once there, we
were notified that our plane was going to be late. A front had moved
in, and the plane that we were supposed to be on had been diverted to
Jacksonville, and didn't have an ETA for Orlando. So we waited. And
waited. Eventually, our plane arrived. We boarded our 8.30p flight
just before 11, and touched down in Buffalo about 2am. We called the
hotel and caught the shuttle back to our car and drove home.

Some final thoughts on
the trip. The weather was great. Not too hot. We had some rain on
Wednesday and Thursday, but not enough to ruin anything. I think that
I am over the Food and Wine fest. As someone who doesn't drink, there
really isn't much to draw me to it. The snacks, while good, are small
and pricy, even by Disney standards. I kind of liked the magic bands
and fast pass system last time we went, but this time, it was a bit
less convenient. Perhaps because we didn't buy the park passes early
enough to get the ones we wanted, perhaps it is because we were
trying to manage a larger group.

Planning a day with kids
is much different than it is as just a couple of adults. We should
have scheduled either non park days, or at least ½ days to take
advantage of the activities at the resorts, whether it is games in
the community room, activities around the pool, including the movies
under the stars or whatever. We can't be park commandos until Evy is
a bit older, but by then, we very well could be too old ourselves to
do it!

There are quite a range
of views of the dining plan. I like it for the convenience of having
all your meals prepaid for, but the hassle of making reservations for
each day can get tedious. Don't get me wrong, I think that the dining
is as much a part of a Disney trip as the rides and shows, but it
isn't super convenient getting to and from other resorts (especially
those not on the monorail), and some of the best places to eat are at
the resorts, not in the parks. A couple of changes in how I will plan
for meals in the future, is to not be so opposed to booking lunches
for one, and another is to skip the dining plan all together and just
pick the 3 or 4 meals we want to do and buy gift cards months in
advance to use on food. That way, the meals are still prepaid for,
and we can be a bit more free in what we order and how we experience
the restaurant.

I'm glad we got to see
the Osborne lights before they go dark for ever. I would have liked
to see Wishes from in the Magic Kingdom, but when you visit in a week
that has 3 nights closed early for the Christmas party, it makes it
tough to schedule.

We don't have any hard
plans for our next trip. It doesn't look like it will be for over a
year at this point. I would like to see the parks in the spring, but
not during spring break, March or April, but not near Easter. Perhaps
for the garden fest. There is a good chance that parts of Avatar will
be open at Animal Kingdom will have opened, and maybe even parts of
Star Wars land will be taking shape. If not, Hollywood Studios might
not even be on our agenda. The new Frozen ride at Epcot will be open
and the River of Light show at Animal Kingdom will be on, so we'll
have those to look forward to. I keep saying one of these trips, I'm
going to get on a golf course.. maybe next time will be the time.

22 June, 2015

As part of a high school English project several years ago, I wrote the first chapter of a novel. I wrote a few more pages, but then life happened, and a floppy disk on Apple 2e, was a little less than reliable.. a few years ago, I decided to give it a shot again and started another one.. but didn't get more than a few pages in before my laptop gave up the ghost..

Well, I've decided to give it another go. This time, I am several pages in. I don't know what direction I want to take it, but I've got a few ideas. I've decided to post the first chapter here. It may evolve to become the preface rather than chapter 1, but I'm a long way from having to make that decision.

As always, I encourage feedback, let me know what you think.. and if you pick up a book and read this, would you keep reading? I may share more in the future, but for now, this is it.

Chapter 1

He collapsed into the
chair in the empty lounge. It was a long day, and he was still
getting used to life on Mars. He had all the physical training before
he left Earth, but simulators can only go so far. As he gazed out
through the glass dome of the compound, he looked to see if he could
see Earth, but this time of year, the Earth is on the other side of
the sun.

“The final tram to the
residential compound will be leaving in 15 minutes. Once again, the
final tram for the residential compound will be departing in 15
minutes.” The PA system echoed through the abandoned lounge.

The tram to the dorms was
a 35 minute ride. He considered just crashing in his office again,
but he really needed to get back, so he grabbed his stuff, and headed
to the station. It was the last work day of the week at the center,
so the tram station was almost as empty as the lounge he had just
left.

“Hey Dave, running late
again?” asked the conductor.

“Yea, you know how it
is..” he responded as he stepped on the tram seconds before the
automatic doors slid shut. He turned to find a seat. The last tram of
the week was routinely light, and today was no exception. They had
considered eliminating it to cut costs, but the workers voiced strong
disapproval, and since the tram was solar powered, it really wasn't
going to save a lot.

Dave found his seat. He
liked sitting by the window on the left side of the tram on the way
home. It had a better view of the Martian landscape. The route took
them right past where the rover Opportunity first landed. The
remains of the landing pod can still be seen as they flew past.

The Roanoke station had
been originally set up as a mining colony. It is officially a colony
of the United States in conjunction with China, but due to the
remoteness, it is effectively self governing.

In the mid 2020s, a
subsidiary of a Richard Bronson company had developed a low cost,
unmanned cargo craft that could make the trip to Mars in less than a
year. It saved on fuel by not needing any life support systems. It is
basically an interplanetary dumbwaiter. The Lusitania II would haul
ore to Earth, and return a little less than 2 years later stocked
with supplies. Once it got up and running, they needed more and more
miners, and the population grew to a few hundred. Since there was no
reliable way to return to Earth, everyone was living under the
understanding that it was a 1 way trip. In the last 15 years, 7
people had tried to stow away on Lusitania II, only to be found
frozen solid when it docked in Mexico.

Then they figured how to
harvest ice from passing comets to refill the long dry ocean. And
that's when things started to change.